Building element for toy structures



May 23, 1961 I. lIllI INVENTOR.

George R. Beck United States Patent BUILDING ELEMENT FOR TOY STRUCTURESGeorge R. Beck, 530 Pleasant, Boulder, Colo.

Filed Mar. 12, 1959, Ser. No. 798,931

6 Claims. (Cl. 46-25) My present invention relates to a building elementfor toy structures and to a structure composed of a multiplicity of suchelements.

Toys are known in which different structures can be assembled from fiatpieces of wood or plastic provided with peripheral notches which enablethese pieces to be fitted together at right angles to one another.Hereto fore, however, the choice of structures to be built with a givenset was severely limited by the available shapes so that versatility ofdesign could be attained only at the cost of including a large varietyof such shapes in a single set.

It is, accordingly, an object of my invention to provide an improvedbuilding element of this character which can be assembled with other,similar elements into many different structures without the use of glue,rivets, bolts or other auxiliary elements.

It is also an object of this invention to provide an element of thischaracter which is free from sharp edges so as to be safely usable bychildren of all ages.

In accordance with this invention I provide a building element in theform of a fiat disc, preferably of a plastic material having a certainresiliency, into whose periphery radial notches are cut at regularintervals. Advantageously, the notches are arranged in diametricallyopposite pairs and are spaced 45 apart. A number of such elements mayeasily be assembled together to form a structure resembling a truss,with branches running horizontally and vertically as well as diagonally.In order to insure a correct dimensioning of the diagonal links betweenorthogonal branches, 1 provide at least two sets of notches of differentdepth staggered in such manner that at least one pair of notches aredeeper than the remaining ones. In a specific embodiment, the notchesmay be ice apparent hereinafter, the depth ratio of notches 12 an 13 issubstantially 1: 2

The element 10' of Fig. 2 is similar to the element 10 of Fig. 1, beingprovided with a center hole 11 and with four pairs of peripheral notches12, 13 of staggered depth. In this instance, however, the notches 12 and13 alternate so that two orthogonal notch pairs 13' of greater depth,extending horizontally and vertically in the figure, are separated bytwo diagonally extending notch pairs 12' of lesser depth. This shapecorresponds to that shown in my aforementioned design-patent application Serial No. D. 50,806. Y Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate how arelatively simple structure 100, resembling a section of a truss whichin turn may form part of a bridge, a building or the like, isassembledfrom a number of elements as shown in the preceding figures. Thestructure 100 comprises a lower tier of vertical discs 10a, 10b, 10c and10d, an upper tier of alternately deeper and shallower to provide aclover-.

leaf-like appearance similar to that shown in my co-pendingdesign-patent application Serial No. D. 50,806 filed May 8, 1958, andnow abandoned.

The invention will be described in greater detail with reference to theaccompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a building element embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, showing a slightly modified elementaccording to the invention;

Fig. 3 is an end-elevational view of a simple structure assembled fromseveral elements of the type shown in Figs. 1 and 2; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

The building element 10 shown in Fig. 1 is a fiat disc provided at itscenter with a hole 11 by which it may be mounted, if desired, on asuitable shaft member (e.g. a pin or a matchstick) to simulate a wheelor the like. The disc 10 is provided with four pairs of diametricallyopposite peripheral notches, spaced apart, which include threerelatively shallow pairs 12 and one relatively deep pair 13. Preferably,for reasons that will become vertical discs 102, 10] co-planar with thediscs of the lower tier, a single horizontal disc 10z interconnectingthe discs 10e and 10], two diagonally extending discs 10x and 10ylinking the discs 10a, 10 of the upper tier with the outermost discs 10aand 10d of the lower tier, respectively, and three horizontal discs1014, 10v and 10w interconnecting the discs of the lower tier. It willbe seen that each vertical disc Ilia-10f has two of its notches engagedby respective discs (1014-102) lying in planes at right angles to thevertical.

Although the structure 10%) in Figs. 3 and 4 is shown composed of twotypes of discs respectively similar to those illustrated at 19 and 10'in Figs. 1 and 2, it will be understood that discs of either type alonecan be used to form the structure. It is important, however, to notethat the horizontal notches of all the vertical discs Illa-10f must bethe deep notches 13 or 13' of Figs. 1 and 2 and that the notches of thehorizontal connecting discs 10a, 16v, 10w and ltiz in enagementtherewith must be of like character; on the other hand, the inclinednotches of discs 10a, 10d, 10.2 and 10 engaged by the diagonal discs 10xand 10y, as :well as the occupied notches of these latter discs, must beshallower as indicated at 12 and 12' in Figs. 1 and 2. With a relativedimensioning of these notches in a ratio of /2:1 as indicated above,correct alignment between discs of adjoining tiers (e.g. 10c and 1012)will be insured if each pair of inter-linked discs is brought intoengagement for the full depth of its interfitted notches. A very stablestructure is thereby produced.

It will be apparent that the truss section illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4can be extended at will in its own plane, or in horizontal, vertical orinclined planes perpendicular thereto, by attaching further discs to thefree notches of the elements already assembled. In some cases theoverall design may be such that discs of either the type of Fig. l orthat of Fig. 2 will be preferred at particular locations, yet in manyinstances the two types of discs 10 and 10 will be freelyinterchangeable. It will thus be seen that I have provided a buildingelement of simple shape which can be assembled into a wide variety ofdifferent structures, it being of course understood that minordepartures from the specific configurations described and illustratedwill be possible. Thus, for example, the number and the spacing of thenotches may differ from that illustrated in the drawing, withcorresponding change in their relative dimensioning; if, for

M example, the inclined notches 12 in Fig. 1 were separated from thehorizontal notches 13 by an angle of 30, their depth ratio should beapproximately l: /3/2 (or about 1:1.85), corresponding to the cosine ofthe enclosed angle. The geometrical relationship underlying thisprinciple has been illustrated in dot-dash lines in Figs. 1 and 2.

I claim:

1. A building element for toy structures comprising a fiat, circulardisc provided with radially extending, angularly spaced peripheralnotches including a first notch and a second notch separated from eachother by an are less than 90, the ratio of the depths ofsaid first andsecondnotches being substantially equal to thecosine of said arc.

2. A building element for toy structures comprising a flat, circulardisc provided with at least two pairs of diametrically opposite,radially extending peripheral notches, adjacent notches of said pairsenclosing an arc of substantially 45, the ratio of. the: depths of saidadjacent'notches being substantially equal tol /2 v3. A building elementaccording to claim 2 wherein the notches of each pair are of equaldepth.

4. A building element for toy structures comprising a flat, circulardisc provided with eight uniformly spaced radially extending peripheralnotches, diametrically op- 4 posite notches being of like depth, atleast two pairs of adjacent notches being of difierent depth, the ratioof the depth of said adjacent notches being substantially equal to 1:/2.

5. A building element according to claim 4 wherein one pair ofdiametrically opposite notches are of greater depth than the remainingnotches.

6. A building element according to claim 4 wherein said notches arealternately of greater and, less; depth.

References Cited in the file. of this patent UNITEDv STATES PATENTS1,894,061 Sanders Jan. 10, 1933 2,633,662 Nelson Apr. 7, 1953 FOREIGNPATENTS 121,402 Australia Apr. 26, 1946 266,913 Switzerland Feb. 28,1950

